''Acacia veronica'', commonly known as Veronica's wattle,
[ is a shrub or tree of the genus '']Acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
'' and the subgenus ''Plurinerves'' that is endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to a small area of south western Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Description
The shrub or tree typically grows to a height of [ and has aromatic, ]glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
and finely ribbed branchlets resinous when still immature. Like most species of ''Acacia'' it has phyllode
Phyllodes are modified petioles or leaf stems, which are leaf-like in appearance and function. In some plants, these become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode comes to serve the ...
s rather than true leaves. The thinly leathery and evergreen phyllodes have a linear to linear-elliptic shape and are straight to slightly incurved with a length of and a width of and has two to three nerves per face with the central nerve being most prominent.[ It blooms from March to September and produces white-cream flowers.][ The ]inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
s occur in pairs on raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
s with an axis length of and have spherical flower-heads with a diameter of containing 24 to 27 white to cream coloured flowers. The thinly leathery to papery seed pod
This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnify ...
s that form after flowering have a linear shape with a length up to and a width of and contain shiny dark brown seeds with an oblong shape and an length of about with a white aril
An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the see ...
.[
]
Taxonomy
The specie was first formally described by the botanist Bruce Maslin
Bruce Roger Maslin (born 3 May 1946) is an Australian botanist, known for his work on ''Acacia'' taxonomy.
Born in Bridgetown, Western Australia, he obtained an honours degree in botany from the University of Western Australia in 1967, then to ...
in 1989 as a part of the work ''Acacia veronica Maslin (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae), a new species of Acacia endemic in the Stirling Range, Western Australia'' as described in the journal ''Nuytsia
''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...
''. In 2003 it was reclassified by Leslie Pedley
Leslie Pedley (19 May 1930 – 27 November 2018)IPNILeslie Pedley/ref> was an Australian botanist who specialised in the genus ''Acacia''. He is notable for bringing into use the generic name ''Racosperma'', creating a split in the genus, which r ...
as ''Racosperma veronicae'' then transferred back to genus ''Acacia'' in 2006.Acacia spongolitica
''Acacia spongolitica'' is a shrub of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Plurinerves'' that is endemic to south western Australia.
Description
The spreading, aromatic and resinous shrub typically grows to a height of and a width of . It bl ...
'' but not to other species found in Western Australia, it also appears similar in appearance to ''Acacia cyclops
''Acacia cyclops'', commonly known as coastal wattle, cyclops wattle, one-eyed wattle, red-eyed wattle, redwreath acacia, western coastal wattle, rooikrans, rooikrans acacia, is a coastal shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae. Native to Au ...
''.[
]
Distribution
It is native to an area in the Great Southern region of Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
where it is commonly situated in sheltered sites near summits and in gullies along creeks and streams.Stirling Range National Park
Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately south-east of Perth.
Description
It protects the Stirling Ranges, or Koikyennuruff, a range o ...
as a part of ''Eucalyptus marginata
''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with rough ...
'' - ''Corymbia calophylla
''Corymbia calophylla'', commonly known as marri, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a tree or mallee with rough bark on part or all of the trunk, lance-shaped ad ...
'' or ''Eucalyptus wandoo
''Eucalyptus wandoo'', commonly known as wandoo, dooto, warrnt or wornt, is a small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of nine to sev ...
'' woodlands or forest communities.
See also
* List of ''Acacia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15289326
veronica
Acacias of Western Australia
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin
Plants described in 1989